Thorium is probably an element you haven't given much thought to. It's not as cool or as Iridium or Americium .

It's as common as lead and was used in gas lighting before electricity, but has also been known as a nuclear fuel for decades.

If fact Australia has perhaps the largest deposits of Thorium in the world.

So where are all the Thorium nuclear reactors? Does any country now have the political will to further develop any kind of nuclear power after the recent Japanese experience?

Professor David Jamieson is head of the School of Physics at The University of Melbourne, and is one of Australia's best placed academics to speak on the future possibilities on Thorium nuclear power generation.